Fergie – Her Hair Loss & Hair Styles

Fergie’s hair styles, and her obvious hair loss, have been a slight obsession of mine for the past few years. Nothing feels more lonely than to be a women struggling with hair loss, but when I see a celebrity going through the same thing, and almost embracing hair loss, it makes me question my own struggle. When pictures first surfaced of Fergie a few years ago that showed her hair loss, I was stunned and felt horrible for her, since I know how much it sucks. But what has surprised me is that she hasn’t done much to cover up her hair loss, and she’s not afraid to venture in public with her widening part. Is she brave or oblivious, or are so many women losing their hair these days that her degree of hair loss is almost the new norm?

Before I decided to write articles about celebrities like Fergie that have hair loss, I wondered if I was being mean by ‘outing’ them publicly. But Fergie shows up at various red carpet events, autograph signings, and performances, with her hair loss totally visible, so she’s presenting herself how she wants to be seen – hair loss and all. I would feel uncomfortable showing candid paparazzi photos of balding celebs taken with telephoto lenses into their homes or something, but if a celeb goes out in public, to me they’re saying they are comfortable with the way they look.

As I’ve watched my own hair loss progress from not being nearly as noticeable as Fergie’s, to being on the same level as hers now (and quickly getting worse), I personally don’t want the whole world to know I have hair loss. That’s why I wear hair concealers and leave the house thinking my hair loss is disguised, but I do wonder if it’s as obvious as Fergie’s under bright lights and camera flashes. I will very soon start wearing a hair piece like Christina Hendricks, so that if my hair gets worse, no one will know (hopefully) – except all the viewers of hairlosshell.com. That’s why Fergie fascinates me – why is she okay with her hair, but I’m not okay with mine? Who’s right? And she’s obviously concerned about her appearance because she always changes up her hair styles and wears tons of hair extensions to add length and volume to her hair. So Fergie – you confuse me and fascinate me!

This was the first photo that came out where it became obvious Fergie has hair loss. Before that I never noticed she had hair issues like me. The dark hair color also makes her hair loss more noticeable.

Again Fergie’s dark hair color highlights her hair loss.

Fergie at a red carpet event. Her hair looks awesome, but I would have worn a hair concealer to hide the wide part.

Fergie’s almost black hair makes her thinning hair more apparent. At least she doesn’t have to deal with a receding hairline like me.

I wonder if her constant use of extensions is what caused her hair loss (from traction alopecia). Or does she have telogen effluvium from stress and dieting, or is it androgenetic alopecia? Sorry Fergie for being so obsessed with your hair. I know it’s only hair!

An orange part – OMG this is exactly what I was talking about when I wrote about my scalp turning orange in fluorescent lighting from Toppik hair fibers. I’m not sure if she’s wearing Toppik, or if her scalp got hair dye on it that won’t wash out.

Okay so I have a problem with hair loss (I hate it, and it’s an issue for me). Society has taught us that women are not supposed to bald, and balding is not attractive for women. Unfortunately I have bought into this stereotype for myself and I don’t want to be a balding women. Lots of women look great bald, or with little hair, but I am still hung up on having thick hair. So are magazines! I dare you to find a magazine where Fergie has noticeable hair loss. Every magazine either shows Fergie wearing a wig, or they Photoshop the hell out of her hair to hide her part. Magazines sell the idea that thick hair is beautiful, whether or not that’s true.

Either Fergie’s wearing a wig here, or they have her part turned away from the camera. Plus those are some massive extensions.

A new hair styles for Fergie. Hello Photoshop! Allure prides itself on natural/realistic looking covers, but it takes a lot of pixel-pushing to look “natural.”

What’s your take on Fergie’s hair loss? Personally I love all of her hair styles and wish I could afford hair extensions (but I would worry they’d make my hair loss worse). Is it wrong for me to point out Fergie’s hair issues, even though they are obvious, and she’s choosing to go out like this? Most female celebrities with hair loss are on the same page as me, and they cover up their thinning scalp at the first sign of a problem. No matter what hair Fergie sports – blonde hair, dark hair, black hair, or no hair, she always looks awesome. And she makes me question my own beliefs about beauty and the ridiculousness of hair, hair styles, and hair loss. Go Fergie!

That’s a good question. It’s hard to know for sure, but my guess is that her hair loss is a combination of telogen effluvium, androgenetic alopecia, and traction alopecia. Since she’s been wearing hair extensions for years, that’s probably done some permanent damage to her hair, and caused bald spots from the constant tugging. Since she’s a celebrity, which is probably extremely stressful, between the stress, constant travel, constant dieting, etc., that probably causes some excessive shedding that could be chronic. And Fergie could have a genetic predisposition to androgenetic alopecia as well. This is all speculation, since I don’t really know for sure. Fergie’s hair looks like mine, and the type of hair loss that is super common in places like NYC – http://www.hairlosshell.com/new-york-hair-loss

Hi Jeni. May I ask you why you’ve decided to go with topper and not directly to a bonded piece? Are you concerned with the shaving part?

I’m asking because I’m starting to investigate supplemental hair. This HL nightmare isn’t obvious to anyone but myself yet and I plan on keeping it that way. I don’t like the idea of removing something every night and a bonded piece seems more “permanent”. Am I fooling myself?

Hope, If my hair keeps getting worse I will probably shave my head and get a bonded hair piece. But right now, before doing that, there are a few more things I might try for my hair before I give up completely. I don’t like the idea of taking something off every night too, but I feel like it’s a good intermediate step for me. Most people are really happy with bonded hair pieces after they get used to them – but I feel like it’s a bigger step I’m not ready to take yet.

Wow, I never realized Fergie was experiencing hair loss. I feel bad for her, but I do commend her for being confident enough to not hide it. I’m experiencing hair loss too and doing everything I can to stall it…it really does suck.

I really don’t have a comment about Fergie except that she is still very beautiful.

I have been loosing my hair for about 2 years now – I was born with very fine hair but had quite a bit of it on my crown while the sides were thin. Now my hair is very thin allover my head with the crown loosing the most. My loss is diffuse so I never thought it could be alopecia areata, but just found a few articles that there is also a diffuse version. Many people who experience this type of hair loss also have gluten intollerance, which I do! But never linked it to my hair loss to it until this past summer when I finally noticed a pattern – every time I cheated on my gluten free diet with a beer (which most have a trace amount of gluten) I would loose hair, and thinking back over the past few years, I have not been careful about trace amounts of gluten getting into my system – for example some lip products have it, gum has it, when you lick an envelope you get some………

here is a excerpt from a website about this:

“Celiac disease associated alopecia

Celiac (coeliac) disease is an autoimmune condition in which affected individuals have an adverse immune reaction to gluten in their diet. The most reliable treatment approach is a gluten free diet. However, those who fail to strictly adhere to a gluten free diet can develop hair loss problems. The hair loss can be due to two different mechanisms. As an autoimmune condition, celiac disease can be associated with an increased risk of developing other autoimmune diseases. People with celiac disease have also been reported as also developing the autoimmune hair loss condition alopecia areata.

In addition, and probably more common in celiac disease affected people, there can be a thinning of hair fiber and a general diffuse hair loss. This is probably most likely due to the inflammatory response to gluten in the gut inhibiting the absorption of other nutrients from food which hair follicles require. Similar poor hair growth can be seen in other people with inflammatory bowel syndromes. Erratic hormone production in people with celiac disease may also be a contributing factor to hair loss. In celiac disease the strict adherence to a gluten free diet resolves the gut inflammation and in so doing also usually resolves the poor quality hair growth. ”

Anyway, just thought I’d share in case you or your readers could have hair loss from gluten. Many people have gluten intollerance but don’t know it, and some doctors think up to 30% of the US population have some degree of gluten sensitivity.

Hi again. I just got done reading your earlier posts and comments and saw that you did go gluten free for a few weeks. Not everyone that is gluten sensitive has noticeable stomach problems. For example when I first found out gluten was a problem for me I had terrible stomach pains and diarrhea but now if i accidently eat it or challenge myself on purpose with a small piece of cake, etc, I don’t have any overt symptoms, except for hair loss happens in huge amounts overnight. and i am sure it affects the amount of nutrients you are absorbing. Unfortunately, i have read that it takes a very long time of going gluten free to heal your gut and I don’t know if the hair loss is permanent or not.

That post about fillings is really scary!!! I have so many, when i was little i didn’t brush my teeth plus i inherited “bad teeth” – my dad always brushed his teeth but got tons of cavities but my mom never brushed and never had cavities though their diets were similar. Anyway, have you had any more thoughts or information about mercury in fillings and consequent health problems. One thing I hate about organizations saying that something without a doubt doesn’t cause this or that is how can they really know? – there are so many factors and differences in people and environments that can all interact in so many ways that they can’t possibly test all of them. I remember when experts in food safety were saying that BPA in plastic were safe, even though others were greatly concerned – still they said it was safe. Well in 2010 the FDA finally expressed concern also and many manufactures are eliminating from products that make contact with foods and drinks.

Thanks for your comments. Is your hair better now that you are gluten free? I feel like I’m not absorbing vitamins and minerals properly, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it really is gluten in my case. There are so many things it could be! I know I didn’t cut out gluten long enough to make a real diagnosis – it was so hard, and since I didn’t feel any different after a few weeks, I just gave up.

Maybe you should give it a try again? For me it took at least 6-7 months before my stomach healed noticeable and I know other’s who had to wait that long too. It’s common to be sensitive to lactose as well, but that goes away after a (long) while on gluten free diet.

Following the diet is hard and I really hate it. But if it makes a huge difference in health it is totally worth it. And it has no side-effects :)

OMG HOW AM I LUCKY ENOUGH TO STUMBLE ONTO YOU??!! This is first page I’ve read after a hair loss google search brought me here, and I SWEAR you are stealing my thoughts right out of my head, VERBATIM! I was doing my latest haiross research (I do frequently) to commemorate my 4 year anniversary in hairloss hell. I recently got so desperate I wrote down every little tidbit I could think of in regards to my hair. As I was typing this stuff in, it was crystal clear that it was the DEVELOPER in my hair color.
OK so I figured this much out after 1460 days of thinking about it, dreaming about it, becoming some what of a recluse (only b/c it takes about 3 hours to produce an albeit thinly veiled comb-over at best), losing friends to the constant “your being paranoid, you look great” ignorance etc. but what now? The top hairs are 3 inch ugly light-brown with some gray root growth and the bottom half is like the plastic thick fake nautical rope thats coming apart from the bottom. Can I darken it all or will it again start coming out again in droves?
Looking forward to reading more , right now :) . At the very least, Jen, you’ve made me realize I’m not in this alone which is soothing to me. Thank you.
BEX